Update: Getting Help With Prescription Costs

The cost of prescription medication is astronomical, even if you do have health insurance. However, because many Fibromyalgia sufferers are unable to work, a lot of us are left uninsured. Because I am one of those unfortunate uninsured souls, I have been conducting an exhaustive search of companies and agencies that offer help in paying for my medication. Being on a fixed income with my Social Security Disability, I don’t want to spend my whole check on medication when the mortgage, car payment, utility payments, etc still need to be paid on a monthly basis. As my 21-year old son adequately puts it, “Being a responsible adult sucks!”

Regardless, it’s something we all have to do. So I have compiled a list of the companies and agencies I have found that offer assistance in paying for medications:

Needy Meds: NeedyMeds.org has information on medicine and healthcare assistance programs. They also offer a FREE drug discount card to take to the pharmacy and receive up to 70% off your medication costs. I have found it to be a one-stop shop to find medicine assistance programs. They also have healthcare assistance programs listed on this site. If I find more of the same, I'll post them in another blog.

Patient Assistance: Another free service. Sign up, enter in ALL your prescriptions, and the site will find assistance programs and coupons for the medications you entered. They also offer a FREE drug discount card to use when picking up your prescriptions!

Together Rx: A public service program created and sponsored by a group of some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies gives you a FREE prescription-savings card for eligible residents of the United States and Puerto Rico who have no prescription drug coverage. Most cardholders save 25%–40%* on prescription medicines and products. (FYI: I was told by the pharmacy tech that this one gave the highest discounts.)

Rx Assist: "Patient assistance programs are run by pharmaceutical companies to provide free medications to people who cannot afford to buy their medicine. RxAssist offers a comprehensive database of these patient assistance programs, as well as practical tools, news, and articles so that health care professionals and patients can find the information they need."

Partnership for Prescription Assistance: "Helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need through the program that is right for them. Many will get their medications free or nearly free."

Free Rx Plus: "Free For All® Inc. is dedicated to helping you control your healthcare costs we have discounted programs, providing FREE access to Prescription Medications, Imaging Service and Lab."

Dispensary of Hope: "A not-for-profit network of dispensing sites, sourcing partners and financial partners that assist people without prescription drug coverage. The network provides short-term and long-term assistance to those under 200 percent of the poverty line. Some estimates say that nearly 10 percent of our nation's population lives in this bracket every day."

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club: I signed up for this one as soon as I lost my health insurance. It has saved me at least 50% of my medication costs! There is an annual fee of $20 to $35, however. I will updating this blog post regularly with names and URLs of any new programs I find. They are also being added to my "Links" section on the right side of this page.

In case you were wondering if these actually work, they really do! I had to have four of my prescriptions refilled today. Because I don't have insurance, they would have cost me somewhere around $600 or more. Using the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club and every printable discount card on the sites listed above (and the one sent to me by Together Rx), I only had to pay $116 for my medication. There is a way to get your prescriptions for free, if you are willing to complete the paperwork/have your doctor complete the paper, and send it in. There aren't too many hoops to jump through, but it is definitely worth it. I'll be working on that next and will let you all know how it works and how long it takes to get the medication.

If anybody else has used any of these programs, please let us know!

Gentle Hugs and save a bundle!

Jessica